SOUTH AFRICA-UNITED STATES

Universities of technology join hands in elite network
A rigorous application process has culminated in the membership that has rendered the Central University of Technology (CUT) the first South African university to collaborate with the prestigious US-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) – a partnership that has already yielded benefits during the coronavirus pandemic.The collaboration, broadly aimed at sharing education innovation, has been enabled through joining MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab (J-WEL), a community support structure established in 2003 to facilitate transformation and excellence in education with member organisations.
“J-WEL engages educators, technologists, policymakers, societal leaders, employers, and employees through online and in-person collaborations, workshops, research, and information-sharing events,” CUT explained in an earlier statement about the relationship.
“J-WEL member organisations work with MIT faculty and staff to address global opportunities for scalable change in Education.”
CUT’s road to securing the membership started in 2019 and the final membership agreement was signed in June 2020, to mark the official beginning of the collaboration between the two institutions.
A small community
“We do ask all those interested in joining our higher education community at J-WEL Higher Education to submit an application.
“This application provides us with a sense of the focuses of the university,” said Julia Reynolds-Cuéllar, the associate director for J-WEL Higher Education, explaining the intention of the application process.
“We want to ensure that these areas of interest align with our existing community and those of MIT.
“We also want to understand more about the work the university has done to achieve their goals and how they plan to spread the knowledge gained among their own university, their country, region as applicable,” she continued.
However, the membership does come with prestige and not every university’s application is successful.
“The J-WEL Higher Education community will always aim to remain relatively small, so we can maintain strong relationships, critical for our bi-directional work. Given that, we look for members who will be able to make the most impact and who will be influential in their respective geographies and context,” Reynolds-Cuéllar said.
The education lab has connections with other South African universities, including the Durban University of Technology and the University of South Africa (UNISA), but neither of these linkages has culminated in a paid membership.
Securing J-WEL membership
Professor Alfred Ngowi, the deputy vice-chancellor for CUT’s research, innovation and engagement division, described the start of the journey: “It was actually in 2019 when my colleague, who is an MIT alumnus, and I visited J-WEL.”
“We went to entrepreneurship centres, mega spaces, and the institute of advanced manufacturing,” Ngowi said.
Ngowi further explained that the visits were undertaken as part of the process towards securing membership with J-WEL.
The visits were an opportunity for CUT to experience, first-hand, some of the world-class innovation facilities and programmes that the education lab has acquired over the years.
The importance of the membership, according to Ngowi, is to serve as an opportunity for CUT to observe and adapt how other technology universities approach teaching and learning.
Becoming a leading university of technology
This is even more pertinent in an environment where the role of universities of technology in the broader society became increasingly important in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The demand for universities of technology to operate in sync with business, commerce and society to realise their role as a strategic partner is increasing,” wrote Professor Ryk Lues, Dr Anshu Padayachee and Professor Henk de Jager in an article in University World News about universities of technology in a post-COVID world.
It is with this demand that CUT’s mission is to position itself as the leading African university of technology by 2030.
But it comes at a cost.
The three-year membership costs between R723,000 (about US$50,000) and US$500,000, depending on the membership level.
“Members can join at the affiliate, sustaining, or comprehensive or charter levels, accessing the level of benefits suited to their engagement,” the J-WEL website states.
“Members at the affiliate and sustaining levels join one of our three collaboratives, and comprehensive and charter members participate in activities of all three. Charter members may further engage in custom projects.”
According to Ngowi, CUT’s three-year affiliate level membership is a sound investment, given the wealth of knowledge and collaboration benefits students and academia will receive.
“There are activities that are arranged during the year and they cost money. Let’s consider that membership fee as a fee which we pay to attend those various activities during the year,” he said.
Benefits for participants
J-WEL is linked to MIT’s open education and learning initiatives led by Sanjay Sarma, the MIT vice president for Open Learning.
Some offerings focus on higher education and workplace learning.
To date, CUT has participated in five MIT J-WEL events, all held virtually per the new world order ushered in by the coronavirus pandemic.
The events covered topics about reimagining the curriculum, designing materials for remote learning, including one event tailored to assess CUT and define priorities and attainable goals for the duration of the membership.
Ngowi said that, when the pandemic hit South Africa in March last year, the university did not find itself in a predicament when switching to online learning because the J-WEL membership offered online learning and teaching pedagogies that CUT was able to adapt with ease.
CUT joins a community of 33 other colleges, universities, non-profits, government agencies, and companies with a focus on education innovation.
Other African universities that have a membership with J-WEL include Njala University in Sierra Leone as well as Covenant University and Ahmadu Bello University, both in Nigeria.
The Central University of Technology is part of the Technological Higher Education Network South Africa (THENSA). THENSA was formerly known as the South African Technology Network (SATN). This feature has been written as part of a media partnership between University World News and THENSA.